Chancellor Phillip Hammond is known to regard the relief as ‘eye wateringly expensive’ but has not followed his predecessor George Osborne in attempting to abolish the payment seen as a reward for people setting money aside to fund their retirement.

“While rumours of radical tax relief reform will inevitably surface once again in 2019 – particularly in the event of a potentially damaging no deal Brexit – policymakers need to consider the impact any changes would have on the fragile savings culture being fostered in the UK as a result of automatic enrolment,” said Tom Selby, senior analyst at pension and investment platform AJ Bell,

“Tax relief is one of the key incentives offered to savers in return for locking their money away until age 55. Raiding tax relief to fund short-term spending could cause people to reconsider the value of this deal, potentially reducing savings levels and storing up more problems for the future.”

The data published by HM Revenue & Customs also revealed savers paid £27.2 billion in to their pensions and ISAs.

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